That Time Skip Though
by OCfan11
Summary: Byleth is very confused.


Chapter One

At twenty years old, Byleth Eisner does not have a Trainer Card. This is odd, seeing as only a select group of of people in the world don't have authorization to lay claim to a Pokémon. Most of them are five years or younger. Byleth's father has enough experience and certification to own a full team, plus the registration to go after Legendary Pokémon should he ever cross paths with one. In Kanto, Jeralt Eisner was known to the people as the Blade Breaker for more reasons than one. Their trope of mercenaries has at least minimum three Pokémon to every person. All except Byleth, the Ashen Demon. The only known human to overpower dragons with bare hands.

Yet, Byleth does not have a Trainer Card. The reason is simple, it asks if you are male or female (boy or girl); they are neither. Byleth does not care about a lot, but they do know this is important to them.

Enough to forego having a Pokémon.

Jeralt sighs into his stew.

Byleth looks away from the campfire, "What is it?"

"Nothing, kiddo," he hands the leftovers to his Arcanine, Windie. The legendary Pokémon – not to be confused with _Legendary Pokémon_ – eats his fill with gusto. "Just don't like being in Johto. Brings back unwanted memories."

Byleth hums. Accepts their father is older than he appears. No idea who their mother was. Byleth is a decade older than the young adult they appear to be. Has to be good family genes.

"We only need to pass through Arborville," they nudge their father. "It barely even counts as Johto. We _could_ have just trekked through the mountains in Sinnoh."

"Not with how close winter is," Jeralt grunts. "We'd have all frozen before making it to the cave entrances."

Byleth hums again and hands their leftovers to Windie. The Arcanine growls his thanks.

Byleth knows better than to reply.

Here in the forest, they hear words instead of calls. Not even Jeralt knows why his child can understand Pokémon, though when asked after a tankard he replies by blaming the queen of Kanto. Byleth nods to the company of humans and Pokémon as they settle in for the night. Even with the bug Pokémon whispering as the moon rises, the forest they rest in feels empty and hollow. The trees tower over the largest Pokémon, and a stillness rests over the area.

Byleth dreams pink and green. A young woman's voice asks, "Who are you?" like a curious child.

Sleep Talk turns into Future Sight.

(But it failed.)

;;;

The next time they make camp is near a lake. Jeralt, Byleth, and a few others take to fishing for dinner. Laughing and joking until they catch enough. Byleth stays behind while dinner's being made. They look across the water and breathe with the stillness.

Here is a secret: Byleth has no heartbeat. There is a pulse in their ears, but never the beating in their chest. When alone, it feels like time stops moving

Blue eyes snap to the thing fluttering over the water. It wasn't there a second ago, shooting towards them. The fishing pole is wound up just in time for an unknown Pokémon to hover inches from their face.

"Oh my," the Pokémon huffs. "What could have brought you here?"

"Food."

The Pokémon jerks back. "Oh! You can understand me! But, who are you?"

"A human," Byleth has no intonation to their voice. It is very rare they emote, and by now a Pokémon's shock at their responses isn't funny.

"Well then, you must have a name."

Begins disassembling the gear. "Byleth."

"Huh, I shall never grow accustomed to human names," the flying thing mutters. It's green and pink mixed body twists in the air, green eyes glaring. "Where do you think you're going?!"

"Back to camp."

"Ugh!" it appears in front of their face. Byleth stops and lets it wave its arms. "You're so rude! Fine, I'll just have to come with you!"

"I can't own a Pokémon," Byleth deadpans and walks around.

It splutters. "I'm not a Pokémon! I'm-"

It cuts off so suddenly they have to turn. The sparklingly pink and too light green creature hovers lower, glancing at their hands deep in thought.

"You're not a Pokémon?" Byleth prompts.

It pauses. "My name is Sothis, and I'm… I don't know."

Byleth turns back towards camp. "Come, my father will know if you are a Pokémon or not."

Sothis barks out a laugh. "Fool. Other humans can't understand me. Most of them cannot even see me."

"Does not hurt to try."

"…I guess not."

When Jeralt does seem them, he smiles and does not appear to notice the hovering Pokémon. Byleth hums and takes the stew, tilting their head, "Can we talk in private for a moment?"

Surprise. A blink. "Sure, kiddo."

Once in their tent, Byleth looks over. "Can you show yourself to him?"

"I can try," Sothis narrows its eyes.

Byleth tilts their head at their father's worried stare. "Do you see it?"

"See wh- holy f-!"

"Well, that was rude," Sothis sniffs.

Jeralt barely relaxes his grip on his sword. "Byleth, do you have _any_ idea what that is?"

The young person shrugs. "I was hoping you knew."

"That," Jeralt swallows hard, "is a Celebi. A partly shiny Celebi."

"…Is that a rare Pokémon?"

"Legendary," Jeralt corrects.

"Huh," still as blank as ever, Byleth eyes the small thing more critically, "so they're genderless too."

Sothis sputters, "I am a grown woman!"

"You don't look like one." Byleth holds up a hand. "Dad, this is Sothis. Sothis, my father Jeralt. He runs the mercenary band outside."

Inside their head, Byleth hears, _'You don't look so scary.'_

"Says the pixie," Jeralt finally relaxes. "What's a Celebi doing here? Normally you're spotted by shrines or in times of peace."

'_I don't know,'_ Sothis pouts. _'I don't have all my memories, and Byleth is the only one who can see me without effort on my part.'_

"That's probably for the best. Byleth and I don't care about Crests, but any one of my people spot you and they'll likely hunt you down."

"Crests?" Sothis wonders, blinking out of existence for Jeralt.

"Legendary Pokémon drop Crest Stones," Byleth explains. "They give people abilities, pass them on to their kids." They shrug at the matching disbelieving expressions thrown their way. "I read in my spare time."

"Legendary Pokémon were hunted down," Jeralt adds, staring at his child. "They're all but extinct. The only known ones are the three birds in Kanto, protected by Queen Rhea. Others are all just myths and flash sightings."

"Hmm," Sothis rests her head on her hands in the air. "Then I shall stay with you. You will keep me safe."

Byleth blinks. "She wants to stick around."

"That's a terrible idea," Jeralt blurts. "She should go through the timestream and end up somewhere actually safe. Not travel around and wait for someone to catch on."

"No, I've made up my mind!" Sothis declares and rests on Byleth's shoulder, clutching at their hair with her nub hands. "You are the safest place for me! No one else can see me anyways. No one else can understand me, not even other Pokémon. I'm staying!"

"…Byleth?"

"She's staying."

Jeralt swears and pulls out his not-so-secret stash of booze. "This is going to be a disaster. Please tell me she didn't leave an egg somewhere."

Sothis squawks, "Why would I have an egg?"

Byleth repeats the question. Jeralt takes a swing from his flask before answering, "It's a thing Celebi do. Take an egg from the future and leave it in the past."

They tilt their head, "Doesn't that cause a time paradox?"

"Absolutely."

"I'm not irresponsible," Sothis huffs before sighing dreamily at Jeralt. Byleth shifts uncomfortably. "But I'll forgive you since you're cute."

Yes, Byleth decides this is more than they normally feel. Hopefully this isn't a theme with Sothis. They rather appreciate muted emotions.

;;;

"Why me?" Byleth asks once, alone in the tent with an invisible not-a-ghost Sothis.

"You feel familiar," Sothis sleeps most of the time, but when she isn't she is off exploreing the camp. Truly, no one else can see her. No one can hear her. Jeralt only knows she stays because Byleth will glance her way from time to time. "I can't place it, but it's something akin to an old friend. Strange, because I do not remember having human friends. I don't remember having friends at all!"

"That's sad."

"Why you, you're so rude! It's not like you're any better!"

"I have my father. Those who stay in the company and train with me. And you."

"I-" Sothis turns her back. "Well, fine. Of course I'll be your friend. You only needed ask."

Byleth isn't sure if they're smiling. They wish they could tell. Fond feelings mean time for a smile, correct?

The company reaches Arborville the next day, and promptly gets roped into staying the week to hunt down the herd of Larvitar that moved into the area. It's good coin, though it makes some of the company antsy. They can't turn down the hunt, even if the targets are dragon types with a habit of evolving quickly when encountering humans.

Sothis does not come, but praises Byleth on their sword skill later. "I am glad you are not an idiot who doesn't know how to defend themselves. It is too bad you have no value for your life, hunting down beasts solo as you seem to do."

Byleth shrugs, "Every bit helps."

Yet, the normalcy does not last. In the moment before morning rays, where most men and women of the company are half drunk or half asleep, three barely adults tumble on the village edge. In no time they stand before the company's leader and leader's child.

The colour blue is worn by the crown prince of Sinnoh.

The next Empress of Johto, garbed in red.

Yellow is stitched deep into the fabric of the heir of the Unovan Alliance.

"We'll take care of the bandits," Jeralt barks orders to his people. "You three, stay in the village!"

"We can help!" the one in blue protests.

Byleth does not glare while their father runs off. They are a breeze of stillness. "Then protect the heart of the village." They do not stick around to see if children follow orders.

Sothis races beside their shoulder. "Now isn't this interesting? Bandits, in a peaceful area such as this?"

Byleth draws their sword and cuts down a poison type. A fairy type. A human.

Sothis' comments are distant in their ears, "Reckless. You are a foolish mortal, Byleth, charging in with no plan."

But there is a plan. Fight and survive. Them not us. Live another day. The bandits came at one of the worst moments, the company is fighting slow. Byleth is steel across the battlefield, hitting targets that move too fast for many to see. They and their father are the only ones aware enough to attack Pokémon. Already three of their company have lost their lives, and the remaining partner Pokémon begin to rampage.

It is nearing the twelve-minute mark when Byleth catches up to their father. Windie is bleeding, struggling to hold off a Fearow. Jeralt is parrying blows from a hulking brute of a man. Their father is tall and strong, but the other man bulges with every move. Byleth turns the sword hilt around their hand, racing forward to prepare a jump stab.

The Scyther seems to come from nowhere. The bandit leaps off her father with a bellowing laugh. Jeralt tries to recover for an offensive strike, _but he doesn't see the green Pokémon._

With Scyther inches away from their father, Byleth opens their mouth and _screams_.

It's instantaneous. The world goes still, bathed in blue light. Byleth cannot move – cannot blink – but their mind continues to whirl. They are glaring at the Scyther, which is frozen in the air above Jeralt. Their father is a moment away from being torn open.

"So, this is what it's like to be in a time distortion." Sothis flies into view. "My, my, you _are_ an interesting person. What will you do now?" She giggles, going circles around their head. "Can you even fix time?"

_It does not matter_, Byleth thinks. Nothing matters, so long as their father lives.

"Oh?" the Celebi pops in front of them. "Is that all you want? Well, no matter. It's not like time was moving forward before this. I'll help you get unstuck, but don't think I'll always do this. I don't have _that_ much power."

Sothis closes her eyes, turning pinker by the second. She drifts out of view, Byleth strains for their father.

A beat.

Between one moment and the next Byleth has their sword raised, blocking the scythe-like arm. Her father goes in for a harsh blow against the bandit.

"Urg," the hulking brute spits blood. He sees Byleth almost behead his Scyther and the Arcanine almost fry his Fearrow. "Retreat!"

"Don't," Jeralt holds out a hand, Byleth bouncing off it. Windie growls but stays as well. "We don't have the manpower to chase them down."

"Are you alright?" Byleth asks.

Jeralt is taken aback for a moment. He grins, "Of course. Some scraggily band of thieves isn't going to take me down."

"Oh," Sothis breathes on Byleth's ear, exhausted and ready for a nap, "if only he knew."

Byleth goes to nod, but the world tips sideways. The last thing they hear is Sothis yelping, the last they see is their worried father. There is no choice in the matter, only not moving for a turn.

Byleth rests, and Sothis eats their dreams.

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem or Pokémon. All rights belong to their respective owners. **

**A/N: Thanks for reading**


End file.
